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Lunar probes dance to seek water

AN INDIAN and a US space probe have performed a delicate dance in lunar orbit, a manoeuvre designed to detect water on the moon.

“It’s a unique experiment that can only be conducted by two spacecraft in orbit at the same time,” says NASA’s Jason Crusan in Washington DC.

The first evidence of lunar water came in 1994, from radar signals sent by the NASA moon probe Clementine, bounced off the moon and picked up by the probe and receivers on Earth. The reflections hinted that there might be water ice on the surface, but solid proof requires closer listening …